We started our day on the northwestern end of Santa Cruz Island, at Cerro Dragon. Early in the morning before breakfast we headed ashore to avoid the strong sun typical of the hot rainy season. There we were greeted by a small group of greater flamingoes that were feeding on small crustaceans found in a brackish water lagoon. Along with these birds we found black-necked stilts, whimbrels, and a couple of sandpipers also looking for food.
Today was our chance to find Galapagos land iguanas in their natural habitat. As we walked along the trail there were some of these unique reptiles that gave the name of this site Cerro Dragon, which means Dragon’s hill. This is a place where the park worked intensively to eradicate introduced feral dogs that fed on the iguanas - luckily they were successful and those dogs were finally removed. Nowadays Galapagos land iguanas have been repatriated from the breeding center to this area.
After our walk we went snorkeling and had the opportunity to find several species of sea stars, sea urchins, lots of colorful reef fish, and even a giant manta ray feeding on plankton along the edge of one of the Guy Fawkes’s islets.
Later in the afternoon we went on a Zodiac ride along the coast of an islet known as Eden. This is an extinct volcanic cone and, in addition to the geology, we observed brown pelicans, sea lions, and blue-footed boobies’ plunge diving for fish.
As we left this area we headed to Daphne Major. This is a very important study site for famous Darwin finches. We had a great sunny day and as we sailed along the coast of Daphne Major we observed magnificent frigate birds following us. That, plus the red colors of the sunset reflected on this islet, was a great way to end our day in this magical archipelago.
